State Department requests feedback on draft 2016 Open Government Plan

By The Sunlight Foundation

As we wrote a month ago, the White House guidance on open government asked the right questions for federal agencies to answer. Commendably, some agencies are already moving to post drafts of their plans for public discussion in advance of the Sept. 15 deadline to post their next Open Government Plan online on their open web pages, including the Social Security Administration and the Department of State.

Sunlight applauds these agencies for sharing drafts for feedback online and strongly encourage all of them to do so as soon as possible. We also, however, have concerns about the State Department’s exclusive use of TechChange’s GovUp platform for public feedback, and we have shared that on the White House open government discussion group.

While most online platforms require registration for use in 2016 – from social media to the MADISON software the General Services Administration used for feedback on the U.S. Public Participation Playbook – the public should not have to provide a federal agency with additional personal information in order to provide feedback on an open government initiative.

At minimum, we strongly recommend that all agencies post their open government plan online as a web page — in HTML, not a PDF, just as the 2014 plan is currently available — and take public comment on it through print, phone, email and social media channels without licensing, privacy or copyright constraints. Agencies should also consider publishing a draft on MADISON and Genius to offer the public more opportunities to directly annotate sections. We’ve asked the State Department to expand its public engagement efforts in this direction.

In the meantime, we’re making it possible for the public to view the draft of the U.S. State Department 2016 Open Government Plan as a Google Doc online or to download it as a PDF to a computer or mobile device without having to agree to the GovUp terms of service or privacy policy.

If you have comments on the plan and do not wish to use GovUp, we suggest using the State Department Office of Public Engagement online form to send a message or send a letter to the State Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Management, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20520. We will be submitting our own feedback directly.

The Sunlight Foundation is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike.